Emergency preparedness

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Aboriginal delegates travelled to Vancouver from all over Canada last month to attend a national conference on emergency preparedness.

The two-day conference titled Disaster and Emergency Preparedness for Aboriginal Communities in Canada was presented by W. Zarchikoff and Associates Ltd. and held at the downtown Holiday Inn on May 22 and 23.

Kathy Myers, from the Emu band located just west of Fort Francis, Ont., was pleased with the conference. As a programs assistant for health and social services, a First Nations counsellor and co-ordinator of a first response team, one of her objectives in attending the conference was to learn more ways to obtain funding for the Emu band's programs.

That objective was met during an in-depth workshop on fundraising, which discussed preparing effective proposals, fundraising strategies, how to get low-cost or free advertising, how to register as a charity and more.

Theresa Boyce, from the Tsa'escen' band at Canim Lake said, "I'm here to learn." Assistant chief at their volunteer fire department and secretary for the band, she too was interested in learning how to raise money and was happy with the information the workshops provided her. "The fundraising strategies were really helpful. I have an idea of where I can go to get some money," she said.

One point that was emphasized during the conference was the importance of a plan.

Presenter Geoff Amy said, "Regardless of the size of your band, you should have a community emergency plan." He displayed the Bigstone Cree Nation's emergency plan as an example.

Tom Rippon facilitated a workshop on Critical Incident Stress Management and illustrated the importance of caregivers and trauma support people getting help themselves.

"You can only deal with so much, you take on all that trauma and it begins to traumatize you," he said, adding,

"As leaders in your communities, you need to be debriefed and asked 'How are you doing?' from someone outside. Who takes care of the caregiver? Other caregivers."

One workshop presented by Fire Chief Jim McGregor titled, Darn, that's a big column of smoke. Now what? covered issues related to a major fire through presentation of a case study.

In other workshops, delegates were educated on things like the stages of reactions to crisis, delivery of emergency social services and how to develop a stress management program.

On the second day of the conference, delegates were transported to Burrard Clean Operation Ltd. in Burnaby, for a hands-on demonstration of emergency equipment and an overview of fuel management facilities.

Zarchikoff was pleased with the turnout.

"We anticipated 45 participants and we ended up with about 53." He added, "This is the first time this has been done from a national perspective-it may turn into an annual event."